Treasury Board President Tony Clement said federal unions spurned the “olive branch” he extended by inviting them to take part in discussions on a new short-term disability plan that will replace banked sick leave in Canada’s public service.

Clement said he was disappointed all 17 federal unions refused to have any part in the consultations Treasury Board is having to discuss the framework of a proposed short-term disability plan for Canada’s public servants before the two sides hammer out the details at the bargaining table.

“The purpose … was to have the bargaining agents on the ground floor of any new bargained plan so they could work with us on some of the details and have their input on the framing of this plan,” said Clement in an interview.

“I actually thought I was extending the olive branch and I was being reasonable in giving them that kind of input. They have spurned the offer.”

The unions’ outright rejection of any participation in these separate consultations has cranked up the tension early in this round of collective bargaining, which is slowly winding into gear. Treasury Board negotiators have been meeting quietly with unions as their contracts expire but the biggest player, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, is having its first meetings with the government this week.

Clement said the “door is always open and ajar” if the unions change their mind and want to sit in on the consultations to provide their input on the shape of a new short-term disability plan that the government is committed to introducing.

“The operators are standing by … I would love to have that kind of conversation with them,” he said.

But the unions argue the consultations are usurping collective bargaining because such massive changes to the management of sick leave should be worked out at the bargaining table and not presented as a fait accompli with only details, such as the number of annual sick days, to be haggled over.

The unions argue a short-term disability plan is unnecessary. They acknowledge the existing accumulated sick leave system has problems but believe it can be fixed without replacing it with a new scheme.

Clement indicated any discussion over whether a new plan is necessary is not in the cards.

“I think it (short-term disability) is a better way to do things,” he said. “We have a current system that has been around for several decades, which no longer reflects the needs of employees and no longer protects the interests of taxpayers, so I believe we can come up with a better system that will in fact be there for employees when they need it.”

Unions argue the government has already decided how the plan will work. Treasury Board negotiators have sketched an approach to some unions that would reduce the number of paid sick days public servants get and introduce a waiting period that some say would encourage employees to go to work ill rather than not get paid.

The model being proposed calls for an unpaid seven-day waiting period that kicks in after public servants use all their allotted sick leave. After the waiting period, employees would go on short-term disability and collect 100 per cent of pay for 25 days. Pay drops to 70 per cent for the next 105 days.

Employees who are still unwell and can’t return to work after 130 days on short-term disability will then go on long-term disability.

Under this plan, the number of paid sick days public servants get will be a contentious issue. The government clearly wants to reduce the 15 days public servants now get every year and have pointed to the five days private sector employees get.

But negotiators have so far been silent on what the government has in mind for $5.2 billion worth of unused sick leave public servants have banked over the years. Public servants can bank their sick leave but they can’t cash out when they leave or retire.

The government doesn’t want any further accumulation of unused sick leave but many argue the $5.2 billion bank could be a powerful bargaining chip in negotiations.

The government could kill unused sick leave credits or it could compromise and offer to carry some over as top-ups to be used to help employees who have used all their sick days or top up the 70-per-cent salary they collect on short-term disability.

Clement wouldn’t comment on plans for banked leave but suggested some could be used to help manage the transition between the existing and new plans.

“That’s getting into details of my negotiation strategy. All I can say, is I intend to be fair and reasonable in my proposals. I understand there would be a transition for some period of time and that is as far as I will say in this interview.”

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